Tom McCall Point Trail

Tom McCall Point Trail is a 3.1 mile lightly trafficked out and back trail located near The Dalles, OR that features beautiful wild flowers and is rated as moderate. The trail is primarily used for hiking, walking, nature trips, and birding and is accessible from April until October.

no dogs here or on the lower trail Rowena plateau bummer but gorgeous drive and wildflowers I loved this hike I'm afraid of heights so it got kind if scary but the flowers wow hikes this in April combined with the plateau good hike. This one is one marked hard that I thought was much easier than clackamas river trail that s marked moderate lol

Rebecca R.

hiking

6 months ago

Gorgeous quick 3.1 mile hike. I highly recommend to go in mid-to late April. We went in May and the bright yellow flowers were mostly dead despite being peak season for flowers. Overall, I highly recommend this hike.

Dan P.

7 months ago

Spring flowers make for gorgeous hike. Probably a 4 star if the flowers weren't in bloom. Can be windy.

Beautiful views, quiet, lots of flowers and this is just the beginning of the bloom. Easy home that gets a little more steep close to the viewpoint, but not bad at all. A really good workout and gorgeous views all around.

Great hike! Hiked it in early summer 2012 and contrary to what other reviewers have said: no issue with ticks. There was poison oak, but none of us (3 people) got any. Awesome views at the top and wildflowers if you hit it in the right season. Very little shade, recommend going when it's not blazing hot and bring plenty of water!

I've been wanting to go Tom McCall Point Hike in spring for some time now. I still haven't made it for spring! My husband and I were passing by though, in July of 2014 and decided we'd head up to the point while we were there. BOY, was it hot! I think it was high 90's and there isn't much cover from the sun...no one else was dumb enough to join us, so we had the trial all to ourselves. When we got to the top, there were a bunch ticks crawling on us. I think they are American Dog Ticks. Despite the ticks and heat, the hike was worth it because the view of Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams and The Gorge from the point is beautiful and it was a good workout. I bet it would blow me away in spring with all the wild flowers.
*Edit: I submitted some pictures of a few of the ticks on the trail to http://www.tickencounter.org/tickspotters. They help identify ticks by images and geographical location and monitor tick activity and tickborne disease across North America. They said the ticks are actually probably Rocky Mountain Wood Ticks instead of American Dog Ticks. The Rocky Mountain Wood Ticks are much more common than American dog ticks- the only way to really be certain though is to look under a microscope.
An important note from them: "Wood ticks do not transmit Lyme disease but can transmit Rocky Mt Spotted fever and Colorado tick fever. They also can cause a tick bite paralysis which resolves once the tick is removed. Studies have shown that wood ticks can transmit an infectious dose of the RMSF rickettsia as well as other lesser pathogenic rickettsiae in as little as 12 hours of attachment. If this type of tick is biting for even half a day and you develop symptoms of fever, lethargy and a spotted rash, especially on hands and feet, then contact your primary care provider immediately and mention your tick bite. Blood testing will not likely reveal much until antibodies to an infection have time to develop--about 3 weeks post tick bite."
So watch out for those little guys! Check your clothes and HAIR, I found one in my hair a day after the hike, after I had showered twice.